Peace Be Unto Those Who Follow Right Guidance.
I just finished reading "Remembering a Black Radical in a Barack Obama America" by Bokar Ture and Dedrick Muhammad published in CounterPunch magazine. The article, though somewhat brief, makes for interesting reading and I recommend taking the time to reflect on its contents.
Early on in the piece, the authors present the following question and answer:
Is there space for Black radicalism when a Black man who emphasized moderation and advanced a post-racial politic becomes president of the most powerful, predominately white nation in the world?
Our response is yes, for we understand that an "African" (as Kwame Ture would say) in the most powerful position in the world doesn't change the radical truth that African/Black people throughout the world are still disproportionately disenfranchised and demand justice.
However, I think Ture's and Muhammad's classification of Obama as a "Black" - or "African" - man is problematic on a number of counts: Firstly, because under conditions of Racism (White Supremacy), non-white males cannot function as men; secondly, because "Black" or non-white, whilst ontologically-correct, is simply too coarse-grain a classification. As the late Malcolm X showed, both historically and contemporarily, there were (at least) two kinds of (so-called) "negroes", viz. "house negroes" and "field negroes". I include "at least" in parantheses because other "race analysts" such as Langston Hughes and, more recently, counter-racist analyst, Isa Ibrahiim, have shown that there is a third kind of "negro" - the "mixed-race" (or mullato) "Yard Negro" which functions as a "buffer" between the "field negro" masses and 'Massa' (him/herself). Malcolm X had the following to say about the "house negro" in his essay "The Old Negro and The New Negro" which appears in the collection edited by Imam Benjamin Karim entitled The End of White World Supremacy (1989).
Obama went to Harvard Law School. Obama is a lawyer. Obama represents the government. (Some confused non-white people think he is the government.)
Obama is also a "Yard Negro". In fact, he is a "Yard Negro" who has entered - or rather, been allowed to enter - The White house.
But is he a "house negro" or a "field negro"?
It is said "By their (strange) fruits you will know them (him)."
Only time will tell.
Peace
